Content Warning: This section contains depictions of human suffering and violence towards and the murder of children, as well as discussions of self-harm, the death of a parent, and death by suicide. It depicts life in detention centers, the persecution of immigrants, and the persecution of Muslims, particularly the Rohingya. Refugee experiences, and associated depictions of displacement and trauma, are described. It also engages in negative stereotypes of people with missing eyes.

Birds are migratory creatures that often don’t have a permanent home and are a symbol of freedom. Yet sparrows are delicate birds that don’t hold the same majestic quality as larger, more powerful winged creatures. The novel opens with an epigraph describing the creation of the bone sparrow:

The knife worked at the bone. Twisting, curving, smoothing. And when the bird emerged, knowing and strong, the hand placed a coin deep into its core. ‘May you for ever bring us luck and protection, and may you carry our souls to freedom’ (1).

Birds become a prominent motif as protagonist Subhi first sees the presence of birds as a bad omen and later comes to understand them as symbols of hope, resilience, and liberation.